Squirrels

Welcome to Squirrel Class!

Below you will find information which will guide you through your child’s first year at Leigh Primary School.

The school day

School starts at 8.45am, and pupils in Squirrel Class are able to come straight into the classroom from 8:40am. Squirrel Class is accessed through the back playground (located outside Squirrel Class), Mrs Marsh or myself will be at the door ready to greet your little Squirrels as they arrive. If you arrive after 8:45am, please bring your child to the front office, so that we can ensure they are registered correctly.

At the end of the school day you will need to collect your child from the back playground at 3:10pm, please rest assured that we will keep your child in the classroom until we can see their adult has arrived to collect them.

We operate an open door policy in Squirrel Class so if there is anything you would like to speak to Myself, or Mrs Marsh, however big or small, this is the perfect opportunity to do so. In Squirrel class we are keen to promote independence, therefore, when arriving in the morning we would like your child to independently find their peg, hang their coat up and complete early morning work, such as, writing their name.

Staff

Mrs Barber is the teacher of Squirrel Class, she teaches all week apart from Thursday Morning when Mrs Marsh teaches. Mrs Marsh is Squirrel Class Teaching Assistant and is in Squirrel class every day.

Forest school and outdoor learning

At Leigh Primary we are a Forest School, once settled in, Squirrels will be participating in Forest School sessions. All outdoor clothing will need to be supplied by yourselves for Forest School and outdoor learning sessions. Please could you ensure that your child have a pair of waterproof trousers, a water proof jacket (or a waterproof all in one) and a pair of wellies that can be kept in school at all times (please name them clearly). We very much want to give your children the opportunity for as much outdoor learning that we can outside of the forest school slots. Therefore they will need this outdoor equipment in school at all times to enable us to do so.

Our Forest school date for this term is 31st January 2019.

Learning

In Squirrel Class we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage, which encourages children to develop independence, early writing and numeracy skills, phonic awareness, social skills and physical skills. Lots of work in Reception is child initiated and play centred, and there is a free flow between outdoor and indoor activity. Some work, as pupils move through Foundation Stage, becomes more structured and teacher led.

Topic

Each term we focus our learning around a topic, our topic for Spring Term will be all about The Jobs People Do and Fairy Tales. Please click on the link to find out much more about our topics.

We encourage you to “read” at home with your squirrels. This will take the form of talking about and sharing books to begin with. Towards the end of this term your child will be given books from our reading scheme to share in class and at home. Sometimes these books may seem easy – sometimes they may be challenging! We try to ensure pupils have a good range of reading experiences which challenge sufficiently but also allow them to enjoy the stories for their own sakes. Once squirrels are settled in and are ready to bring reading books home you will receive more information about this process.

We will be changing reading books every Monday. Please ensure you send your child's reading book in everyday as we try to hear every child read when we have the opportunity to do so.

P.E

Squirrels will take part in P.E sessions once they join us full time. You will need to ensure your child has their P.E kit in school at all times from week 4.

Tapestry

In Squirrel Class we believe learning take place all of the time, not just in the classroom and take into account your child’s home learning as well the learning which takes place at school when assessing their progress within the Foundation Stage. We will be encouraging you to get involved with your child’s learning journey by sharing pictures, notes, stories etc. about times outside school through an online Learning Journal called Tapestry. Tapestry allows you to share pictures, videos and notes about your child’s learning at home; it also allows you to view any photos, videos or comments we have added to your child’s Learning Journal at school. You will receive a letter at the end of week two with more details about Tapestry and how you can get involved.

In Squirrel Class we operate an open door policy. If you have a question or query, no matter how big or small, please feel free to come a see myself or Mrs Marsh before or after school.